Castle Rock police Officers Renee Tremaine and Seth Morrissey paint a mural at the Hangman’s Gulch underpass last week. Castle Rock is turning to murals as a way to discourage graffiti, decorating 12 bridges and tunnels with artwork.

Castle Rock police believe murals depicting the ubiquitous black bird — and many other paintings like it — on bridges and underpasses throughout the city will persuade vandals or graffiti artists to move along before ever pulling out the spray paint.

Officer Seth Morrissey, of the force’s special operations unit, last month spearheaded the effort to decorate 12 bridges and tunnels in the city with artists’ inspirations, ranging from illustrations of native animals to pastoral scenes to railroad heritage.

The artistic effort in Castle Rock borrows from a decades-old concept, known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, that posits the theory that changing the physical design or layout of communities or buildings can deter criminal activity.

Many communities in Colorado employ CPTED practices, including Douglas, Arapahoe, Adams and Jefferson counties, though perhaps without as much of an artistic bent as Castle Rock.

“Our idea is to give them less opportunity and less area to tag,” Sgt. Todd Brown said. “Even if he has the means to do it, the desire is gone.”

Brown said the mural-painting project, which falls under the police-led Art Around the Rock initiative, is being undertaken by volunteer artists with supplies donated by local businesses. The effort is far less costly than having to repeatedly power-wash paint off public surfaces after tagging incidents, Brown said.

Four underpasses have been painted, with the rest due to be finished by late summer.

The murals are also designed to keep the eye moving, the sergeant said, with a sense of forward motion to dissuade the viewer from lingering and getting into trouble.

The crows bursting out of an image of the iconic promontory that is the city’s namesake is the brainchild of Castle Rock police Officer Renee Tremaine, a graphic artist by training who painted the scene freehand on an underpass on Hangman’s Gulch Trail last week.

She said it took her 90 minutes to come up with a sketch for the mural and a day and a half to paint it.

Local sculptor and painter Janene DiRico-Cable took input from pedestrians on East Plum Creek Trail as she painted a Colorado wildlife scene — complete with hawks, moose, fox and coyote — on a train trestle.

When a passerby suggested adding a squirrel to the mural, she did.

“A lot of public art is intimidating — this is not,” she said. “It beautifies areas that are sometimes overlooked.”

While it’s too early to tell if the artwork is having an effect on crime in Castle Rock, the police department said it has already received inquiries about its mural program from Fort Collins.

Lakewood may soon follow in its southern neighbor’s footsteps: It plans to have a mural painted on a high-target graffiti wall near one of its light-rail stations late this summer or in the fall.

John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abuvthefold

Crime prevention through environmental design (cpted)

CPTED theories contend that law enforcement officers, architects, city planners, landscape and interior designers, and resident volunteers can create a climate of safety in a community right from the start. CPTED’s goal is to prevent crime by designing a physical environment that positively influences human behavior. The theory is based on four principles: natural access control, natural surveillance, territoriality, and maintenance.

Originally from Boston, John Aguilar covers Denver's suburbs for The Denver Post, where he has worked since April 2014. He has also worked at the Boulder County Business Report, the Rocky Mountain News and the Boulder Daily Camera.

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